LAFC’s 4-0 hammering of the San Jose Earthquakes featured yet another stunning individual goal from Carlos Vela. Now Sunday’s El Trafico against the LA Galaxy is even bigger.
It’s Heineken Rivalry Week, which means another edition of ‘El Trafico’, which pits the Los Angeles Galaxy and Los Angeles FC against one another. Sunday’s match is an exciting showdown for the neutral MLS fan, and despite the manufactured geographic rivals across the league, this is one of the few natural ones.
It’s no surprise this match gets the Sunday night slate on FS1. It’s part of a Sunday triple header that features the Hell Is Real derby between Columbus and Cincinnati and the Texas derby between Houston and Dallas. With both Ohio clubs underperforming this season and both Texas clubs fizzling out over the past few weeks, El Trafico presents the most watchable match of the day.
This rivalry between LA Galaxy and LAFC is already must-see tv, but after LAFC’s dismantling of San Jose, Sunday night is even bigger. LAFC have crushed nearly every opponent this season and Wednesday night was more of the same. They opened the scoring over San Jose with a goal from Diego Rossi, who is garnering strong European interest, and closed out the game with Josh Perez’s first MLS goal.
However, it was Carlos Vela, predictably, who stole the show with his performance. San Jose handled the ball in the box in the first half, which led to a Vela penalty kick. He converted, giving him 24 goals in 24 games. Then, later in the half, this happened:
VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!@11carlosV bags his brace with a WONDERGOAL!#LAFCvSJ 3-0 pic.twitter.com/4cxaYe3SRT
— LAFC (@LAFC) August 22, 2019
And that is a key reason why Sunday’s El Trafico looms larger than ever. Remember the last El Trafico, when Zlatan Ibrahimovic dunked on Vela in the media and then went out and dunked on the rest of the team in the actual match? Knowing Zlatan, he probably saw Vela’s goal against San Jose and thought ‘anything you can do, I can do better.’ That reason alone makes Sunday night’s match even more mouthwatering.
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There are so many other juicy storylines, as well: Vela’s standout season. LAFC’s lack of a single win through four tries. LA Galaxy fighting to make the playoffs. Zlatan, again.
So, what’s going to happen at Banc of California Stadium on Sunday night? I think LAFC will finally get the monkey off their back and beat LA Galaxy. Of course, Zlatan will have something to say about it, so I fully expect a high-scoring affair with multiple goals from the best players on the pitch. I predict a 3-2 scoreline with a Vela brace and an Ibrahimovic brace among those five goals.
No matter the result, this match will be extremely interesting. If LAFC win, I believe they can finally claim to be the outright best team in the league. If LA Galaxy win, they get another result to hold over LAFC’s head while still maintaining pace in the playoff race. If the match ends in a draw, it will be a disappointment for both clubs. It will especially be a disappointment for LAFC, who desperately want that first win over their great rivals.
Whatever the result may be, thanks to LAFC’s dominance of a feisty San Jose team on Wednesday night, Sunday’s match may even bigger than before. And for every MLS fan, that is a mouthwatering prospect.